Alexander Glegg
Sir Alexander Glegg (8 July 1848 - 19 September 1933) was a Scottish-born businessman and local politician, active in Wandsworth. He was born in Stonehaven in 1848 and grew up in Aberdeen, the son of Robert Glegg, an iron merchant. He trained as an engineer (marine) and in August, 1870, he boarded the Aberdeen steamer for London, armed with half-a-dozen letters of introduction to engineers, and £5 in his pocket. He took over a firm of brassfounders, Bowen & Company, located at the Phoenix Foundry, 6 Mount Pleasant, London, and pioneered the introduction of cast aluminium cooking utensils to the UK. He joined Wandsworth Borough Council in around 1903, and after only two years (working on several committees, in particular as chairman of the Baths Committee) he was unanimously elected by the council members as Mayor of Wandsworth from November 1905 to November 1906. On 28th July 1906, as Mayor of Wandsworth, he formally handed over the Tooting Bathing Lake (now Tooting Bec Lido). (Interestingly, on the very same date his first grandson, Lindsay Robertson Glegg, was born in Streatham Hill, just a very short distance away from the lake on Tooting Commons.) Along with Alderman the Rev. John Anderson, Councillor Glegg was instrumental in getting the plans passed to build the bathing lake to give everyone in the borough, rich or poor, somewhere to bathe, clean and enjoy themselves. The construction work was carried out by a few hundred unemployed men and was overseen by the council. Had funding not been secured to ensure the lake was built the Mayor was going to pay any shortfall personally, from his own pocket. When all the required funding was found by the council he used the monies he had set aside for the bathing lake to build the clock tower at Clapham Cross (the name for the crossroads at Clapham Common Underground Station) and donated it to the Parish of Clapham, which was then a part of the Borough of Wandsworth.http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lambeth/lambeth-assets/galleries/clapham/clock-tower-1906 http://www.thisisclapham.co.uk/sw4_local/the-clock-tower/ http://www.thisisclapham.co.uk/sw4_local/the-clock-tower/ He later took on the roles of director, or on occasion chairman, on the boards of numerous other businesses and also of Battersea Polytechnic, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Council of the Congregational Union of England and Wales and for a number of years was treasurer of the London Congregational Union and also of Hackney Theological College. For twenty-five years he was a member of the management committee of the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables in Putney, now known as the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability. He was knighted in the Birthday Honours in 1930 in recognition of his eminent public services in the religious, philanthropic, municipal and educational spheres. He became a Justice of the Peace in around 1905. He was a member of the Reform Club (Pall Mall). He passed away at home in Wimbledon Park in 1933. Family In 1879 he married Helen Robertson. The couple had two sons and twin daughters: * Following an incredibly similar path, his eldest son, Grahame Robertson Glegg, became Mayor of Sutton and Cheam in 1938. As Mayor of the borough he opened Sutton and Cheam's Public Baths on 9th April 1938. He also became a Justice of the Peace. * His second son, Alexander (A.) Lindsay Glegg (1882 - 1975) was the famous British lay evangelist. He trained as an electrical engineer at London University and subsequently became director of several companies. But while he worked hard in business, his great love was evangelism. Converted while at the Keswick Convention in 1905, he soon became involved in mission work in Wandsworth. For nearly fifty years he was responsible for the ministry at Down Lodge Hall. He was a regular speaker at campaigns and conventions, and was known particularly for his Albert Hall meetings in the 1940s, his leading part in beginning the Christian holiday camp which annually draws thousands to Filey, and for his active support of numerous missionary societies. He encouraged many young evangelists, both spiritually and financially, and counseled them to play golf for their soul's good. Billy Graham is among those who acknowledge a great debt to Glegg who in his nineties was still preaching. His published works, which went all over the world, include Life with a Capital “L” and Four Score and More. Like his father and brother he too became a Justice of the Peace. Category:Mayors of Wandsworth